WenXian- Morning-after pills offered in British schools

LONDON:Condoms, pregnancy tests and morning-after pills are being offered in British schools to hundreds of thousands of children, some as young as 11.About 29 percent of secondary schools in England now have sexual health clinics , according to research by the Sex Education Forum. The f0rum is an umbrella organisation which supports the development of sex and relationship education in schools. It is found that one in six of all secondary schools gave pupils access to the morning-after pill or tests for sexually transmitted infections such as chlamydia.One in20 school sexual health clinics provided children with presciptions for a variety of contraceptives - the pill, injections or implants - without their parnents being informed. The findings came just days after the government disclosed that there had been a 10 percent rise in the number of abortions among girls under 16 and a 21 percent rise for those under 14.

Personal Response :

I think that having sexual health clinics, introducing contraceptive methods are redundant though contracting the sexually transmitted diseases will be decreased. But, the rate of abortions of students will still increase. They should not just prevent the students from using contraceptive methods during intercourse and give them health checks, but to just prevent the students from having sex ! Having sex is the main cause of having sexually transmitted diseases so they should warn the students about the results of having sex. Not just using contraceptive methods will prevent being pregnant.

WenXian-Kashmir Cadets Claim Sex Assault

Nearly 150 police cadets fled a paramilitary training centre in Indian Kashmir after accusing an instructor of sexual misconduct, officials said yesterday. The 144 deserter'sbelonged to a 370-member group of recruits who had been ferried from eastern Bihar state to the centre of Kashmir for training in anti -insurgency combat, poilce officials said. They said the mass desertion occured after a cadet accused an instructor of trying to sodomise him.

Personal Response :

I think that its ridiculous as even a police instructor can be a sodomite. As the cadets wad transferred from the eastern Bihar state to the centre of the Kashmir for training in an anti-rebellious combat, they probably dare not to rebel against their officers and hence, made an escape. Or maybe they could not stand the assaults and headed out of the training centre.After which, when the escaped from the training centre, they made a report.

WenXian-Polluted water kills 4,000 a day

Polluted drinking water will kills around 1.6 million people this year unless governments around the world make a concerted effort to clean up their supplies, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO). Over 4,000 people die each day from water borne diseases, said Mr James Bertram, co-ordinator of the WHO's Water, Sanitation and Health Programmes. He spoke to reporters ahead of the Singapore International Water Week, which kicks off officially on 24 June.

Personal Response:

Polluted drinking water are killing 4,000 people per day from water- borne diseases. It is a tragedy as people from less developed countries have to suffer because they do not have proper sanitation and proper water pipes for to have clean water for consumption. Therefore it is a reminder from the World Health Organisations (WHO) to inform the people to have better hygiene practices as water is precious and essential in life.

WenXian-10narrowly escapeBukit Panjang blaze,arson suspected

Arsonists are believed to have struck a five-room HDB flat in the Bukit Panjang area on June 23 morning.Petrol have been splashed on the floor of the sixth story Senja Road flat.Singapore Civil Defence Force took about 10mins to extinguish the fire and rescued eight of the ten flat occupants, who tried to escape by climbing through the building's narrow air condition-ing ledge.

Flames from the burning sixth-storey flat reached as high as the ninth floor, blackening the exterior walls of the Bukit Panjang block. Units directly above the fiery flat were damaged by the blaze ,cracking glass panes. An 82-year old retired fireman ran for pails of water to help douse the flames.Onlookers shouted to the trapped man to stay calm and assured them that help was on the way.

Personal Response:

I feel that this is such a tragedy as the flame has cause a lot of damage to the resident's property.It is also a good way of showing the singaporean spirit as a multi-racial society.

Wen Xian- Want to read a comic? Use the cell phone

Comic book heroes such as Spiderman and Superman may soon be appearing on smaller screens of your mobile phone.Businessmen reading comic books is a common sight in Japanese trains, but soon they will be poring over their phones as publishers increasingly digitalise their comics to cash in on the country's mobile-savvy consumers.The launch of Apple's iPhone on 11 o July could spur the growth of the moble comic market ,as the device's touch screen would make it easier and more appealing to read comics on handsets, analysts say. 85% of Japan's population are mobile phones subscribers, carriers are moving away from voice services and beefing up content services and data transmission to increase revenue.Comics led the size of the mobile publications market to double in the past business and the size is almost three times larger then the e-publication market for PCs.

Personal response:

I feel that using the cellphone to 'read' comics is not a bad idea. We can easily download and watch animaes using our phones and need not waste time on downloading from the computer. I also think that the cons are more than the pros regarding this issue. Watching the comics in digital form might harm the eyes more than reading it from a book.Moreover, there is radiation from the cellphones that harms us more. Parents might not agee to allow their child to watch their favourite animae from the phone as it is so convenient and they might neglect their studies.
The quality of the comics might not be as good as the ones from the book itself as everything is compressed together into a smaller screen.